real eyes, realize, real lies
by chim.grim3
Summary: AU. Letters start with ABC; Numbers start with 1, 2, 3; Music starts with Do-Re-Mi; and ... Love starts with Sasuke-kun and me.


**Author: **deAthlyGrimacE

**Beta-Reader: **-sera-chan011-

**. . .**

**real eyes, REALIZE, real lies**

**. . .**

_Then Sasuke said, "I'm fighting myself to get you out of my head, but I'm left hanging off of every word you said."_

**. . .**

"Pst!"

Uchiha Sasuke didn't halt from walking. He merely moved on-step by step, he went on an on.

"Pst!"

Uzumaki Naruto didn't cease from following. He moved on and on just as his leaving best friend did. He went on and didn't stop.

"Pst!"

Still walking, the raven-haired boy irritably glanced over his shoulder and glared at the blonde boy who followed him. Naruto. The blonde was grinning up at him and it somehow screamed something along the lines, "Stop and don't leave or else I'll kick your sorry ass!"

Suitcases in hand and backpack slung on his right shoulder, Sasuke continued walking with haste towards the bus station. This day, he would leave Konoha. This day, he would leave for Oto. And he wondered how in the world Naruto was able to realize his retreat. He didn't bother telling any one-it would be troublesome, especially if he would say parting words with his best friends.

His father, Uchiha Fugaku, requested for his moving in with his family which was now residign in Oto. Fugaku was the chief police officer in that city; his brother, Uchiha Itachi, was very well-known in the field of forensic; and Uchiha Mikoto had her hotel and restaurant business in said place. Only he was being waited for.

Behind him and still following faithfully was still Naruto, the very person he grew up with as a best friend, the person he didn't want to see in this eventful day. Not that he would show some sort of weakness (_tears_, that was) if ever he'd say "good-bye" to his best friend. It just seemed that it wasn't right.

Thoroughly annoyed by now, he stopped and later on felt a hard thing pressed against his back.

"OW!" screamed Naruto, rubbing his forehead. "Why'd you stop?"

Sasuke glared. "What do _you_ need?"

Out of the blue, Naruto grinned. It wasn't the expression Sasuke was expecting at the least. The blonde reached out for his pocket in his pants and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.

"I believe this is yours?"

Sasuke continued glaring. "I don't waste time for some crap, Naruto. You know it. Now if you _please_, I need to go."

He turned his back on Naruto only to have the boy grab his shoulder to halt him.

"What?" hissed Sasuke, apparently exasperated. "Naruto, if you're just doing this to slow me down or something so I can't leave, then you're doing the wrong thing. I-"

Naruto shrugged and unfolded the crumpled piece of flimsy paper and shoved it in front of Sasuke's face.

"I actually could care less if you leave," the blonde started, his face serious, "for I know you're at your happiest when you're around your family. But Sasuke, I care the most for the person who's concerned for your departure for she's at her happiest when she's around you. Think of what'll happen to her if you do leave."

The raven-haired teenager raised an eyebrow in confusion, failing to read the contents of the paper.

"I'm not telling you to give up on your desire to be with your family, teme," continued Naruto. "I'm not telling you to be selfish either. It's just that . . . JUST READ THIS THING ALREADY!"

Sighing, Sasuke snatched the paper away from Naruto and cautiously read what the content was. His eyes widened by a millimeter, recognizing the beautiful calligraphy.

The paper was flimsy and crumpled-there were juice stains messing the surface. He hesitated to read it at first for it obviously came from the trash bin but when he saw that familiar penmanship, Sasuke was pulled into reading the contents.

**Letters start with ABC**

**Numbers start with 1, 2, 3**

**Music starts with Do-Re-Mi**

**And love . . . love starts with **_**Sasuke-kun**_** and **_**me**_

Setting aside emotions and hesitance, Sasuke partially wetted his lips and crumpled the paper once again. He raked his dark hair with his left hand and looked down at the ground, glaring at his shoes. He shouldn't be affected. He shouldn't. He shouldn't. He should-

"Teme, do you know how old that letter is?" asked Naruto. His smile was guilty. His smile was-

". . ."

-sheepish.

"Five years, Sasuke," stated Naruto. He looked down at the ground. "Five years. When we were thirteen years old and I visited Sakura-chan when she got sick, I saw that atop her desk. I _was_ in love with her, teme."

Sasuke's world seemed to crumble. His and Naruto's world stilled.

"But you see . . . I threw it away! I was furious! I-I-was so jealous she's in love with you but she only sees me as a friend. As a best friend. As a brother."

"Dobe-"

"No, let me finish. She cried the whole day she didn't see it. I rummaged again through the trash bin where I threw it and decided to give it back, guilty of course." Naruto's hands balled into fists. "But I hesitated. I don't want to give it back. She-she can do so many other letters anyway!"

". . ."

"You know what makes this letter any different from those letters she didn't give you and were just piled in her closet?"

". . . !" Letters were piled in her closet-letters that weren't sent to Sasuke . . . Sasuke's eyes could only show disbelief.

Naruto smiled. "This one was done with love, teme," he said. "This was done with love. This was done on your fourteenth birthday when Uncle Fugaku was getting you . . . but you didn't go."

Sasuke remained static, so silent no words or whisper escaped his lips. "What . . . What do you want to connote?" he demanded.

"Sasuke, if you still choose to go, I guess even if it breaks down her world, Sakura-chan's fine with it." Naruto cocked his head to the side and looked sideways. "We just hope that though many people would walk in and out of your life, we-your _true_ friends-would leave footprints in your heart. And, by the way, Sakura-chan has got nothing to do with what I've done just now."

Sasuke's Adam's apple moved as he unconsciously gulped while Naruto turned his back and started walking the opposite way. Naruto was barely a meter away from his previous location when he stopped.

"SASUKE-KUN!"

The two boys looked at the side only to find Sakura running towards them. She was flushed and her hair were unruly. When the pink-haired girl reached them, she was panting really hard that you would get the idea that she was followed by hundreds of mad dogs.

Naruto approached her and placed his hand at her back, smiling in amusement. "Breathe in, out . . . that's the way, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura smiled at him. "T-Thanks, Naruto," she said before turning to look at the stoic Uchiha. "I-I'm not here to stop you . . . if that's what you think."

"Hn."

_The thirteen year-old Sakura clutched the birthday boy's clothes from the back. "Don't leave, Sasuke-kun!"_

_"Sakura . . . you're annoying," said the fourteen year-old Uchiha Sasuke. "Let go."_

_"Don't go, Sasuke-kun!" screamed Sakura, sobbing. "I-"_

"I'm not . . . I'm not here to tell you the same words I've told you before, either."

Sasuke stared. ". . . Hn."

_"-love you with all my heart!" _

_". . . You're annoying."_

_"And if you leave . . . if you leave I'll scream and-"_

_"Hn. Thanks, Sakura, but who said I'll leave?"_

Sakura gulped as fringes of hair fell over her wide, green eyes. "Also, I'm not here to hope that you declined the offer of your father (again) to go and live with them in Oto," she added, looking at Sasuke's suitcases and backpack. "I'm here to give you this."

Silently sitting on her hands was a laminated, pressed sakura flower. It was dried and veins were apparent from the browning petals. Sasuke recognized it at once. It was the flower he picked from the sakura tree and gave Sakura. It was the flower he saw Sakura pressing in between their thick Mathematics book two years ago. He knew it and-

"Accept this . . . accept this as a symbol of . . ." Sakura blushed and looked down, suddenly shy.

"Symbol of love?" Sasuke equipped, his face devoid of any emotions.

The pink-haired girl bit her lower lip and blushed all the more. "Y-Yes . . ." she stammered.

Sasuke made a "tch" sound. "What if I don't want to accept that?" he asked in a voice so cold . . . so . . . so depressing. "What if I throw it away?"

"Then . . . then throw it! Throw it if that's what will make Sasuke-kun happy!"

'_Idiotic girl,_' thought Sasuke.

Naruto, on the other hand, gaped and frowned. In an instant, his fist met Sasuke's cheeks and he immediately took a grab of Sasuke's shirt's collar. "How could you say that to Sakura-chan? How could you tell that to this girl who has loved you ever since we were young?"

Sasuke's face was serious and unaffected that Naruto decided to punch him again for good when Sasuke started to smirk. Confused, Naruto placed him down and looked at the teary-eyed Sakura who stood strong and didn't show any signs of weakness.

"You told me before that you love me with all your heart," said Sasuke, moving towards Sakura. "And if I leave you'll scream and what?"

The pink-headed girl stared at him, determined. "I'll scream and do this to you!"

Then she grabbed his collar and pulled him down, crashing her lips with his. As fast as it came, it was gone. Then she looked at him, the tears that formed in her eyes moments ago freely streaming down. "Then I will ask you once again to please never leave and be with me forever no matter how idiotic and clichéd it sounds," she stated.

Naruto grinned and chanted in his mind, "Go, Sakura-chan!" as a memory of the past flashed across him.

_"Sakura-chan," Naruto said, his eyes determined. "I'm in love with you. I am. And I always will."_

_Sakura could only smile. "Thanks, Naruto," she stated. Her smile faltered a little. "I love you, too but I love Sasuke-kun more."_

Naruto turned to Sasuke as Sasuke nodded and ran a hand along his black hair.

Then Sasuke said, "I don't want to leave. But I have to do so this time. Not for long. And . . ."

His two best friends looked at him, eyes wide. Sasuke still had to leave? He wouldn't leave for good? He would still come back? They would still see each other?

". . . it's just for a year or two," continued Sasuke. "Sakura, I want you to know that this past few months, in preparation before I leave, I was fighting to get you out of my head, but I'm hanging off of every word you said."

_"I love you with all my heart!"_

"I . . ." stammered Sakura, looking for the right words. She, then, grinned, fresh new tears falling down once again. "Then I will wait! I will wait and wait and wait and will never get tired of waiting. I will wait everyday in front of my house to see if you're right at my house's gates, leaning against the post, waiting for me. I will wait everyday by the park to see if you're strolling around, a tennis ball in hand. I will wait."

". . . Sakura, thank you."

Sasuke snatched the laminated flower from Sakura's hand and turned his back on his best friends (or perhaps newly obtained girlfriend and best friend) and started walking ahead. Meanwhile, the other two stared at his retreating back, hoping to get to see him soon.

"You know, Sakura-chan, I always knew that Teme loves you," said Naruto, turning to look at the said girl.

Sakura blinked. "E-eh?"

"I just opened my eyes to use my real eyes, then suddenly realized," Naruto started.

"Realized what?"

"Realized Sasuke-teme's real lies."

". . . What?" inquired Sakura, obviously confused. She saw Naruto look sideways and pointed his finger towards a certain direction. She followed it with her head and almost gasped.

There, standing, was a _smiling _Uchiha Sasuke.

"Teme won't leave anymore. I guess it's because of you?"

**. . .**

**o . w . a . r . i**

**. . .**


End file.
